President Donald Trump on Monday urged pregnant women not to take acetaminophen pain relievers like Tylenol over a hotly debated link between the med and autism. At the same time, he urged major changes to the standard vaccines given to babies.
The announcement comes as the White House has vowed to revolutionize health in the United States; meanwhile, some experts across medicine and science voice broad concern over the administration's initiatives.
Medical professionals have long cited acetaminophen as among the safest painkillers to take during pregnancy, especially as fever and pain can also pose dangers to both the mother and the developing fetus. But Trump insisted Monday that "taking Tylenol is not good."
"For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. That's, for instance, in cases of extremely high fever that you feel you can't tough it out," he said.
During his news conference, Trump then pushed major changes to the routine vaccine schedule for infants, insisting, albeit without citing specifics, that there's "no reason" to vaccinate newborns against the incurable, highly contagious hepatitis B.
Trump said, "I would say, wait until the baby is 12 years old and formed."
His statements would seem to run counter to a medical consensus formed over decades that the best way to prevent maternal transmission of the disease that can cause liver damage and cancer is to vaccinate newborns within the first day of life.
His remarks came days after an influential advisory panel handpicked by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stopped short of advising that a delay of one month of the first dose of hepatitis B was warranted.
They deemed more discussion was necessary — offering temporary relief to many experts in public health who said delaying that shot could have dire results.
Identifying the cause of autism — a complex condition connected to brain development that many experts believe occurs for predominantly genetic reasons — has been a major goal for Kennedy, who has voiced skepticism over vaccines and questioned whether some approved treatments have contributed to an uptick in autism diagnoses.
Other experts attribute the uptick to better tracking and more comprehensive diagnosis criteria.
Earlier this year, Kennedy vowed he would release findings regarding autism's cause by this month.
The Trump administration's expected focus on acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, is likely to meet with some pushback. .
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists is among the major medical groups that have identified the ingredient as among the safest options for pain relief and fever reduction during pregnancy.
And doctors already warn against its long-term use.
A literature review published last month concluded there was reason to believe a possible link between acetaminophen exposure and autism existed — but other studies have found an opposite result.
Researchers behind the August report cautioned that more study is needed and that those expecting should not stop taking medication without consulting their doctors.
David Mandell, a psychiatric epidemiologist at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP that research suggests the possible risks posed by taking such pain relief while pregnant seem "to be lower than the risk of having an uncontrolled infection during pregnancy."
The professor of psychiatry emphasized that digging into the interaction of genetic and environmental factors is an area of critical research, but cautioned that to take on those studies with rigor demands decades of study and funding — and cast the Trump administration's efforts as rushed.
The Coalition of Autism Scientists earlier called it "highly irresponsible and potentially dangerous to claim links between potential exposures and autism when the science is far more nuanced and uncertain."
"Secretary Kennedy's announcement will cause confusion and fear," said the group in a statement.